Rotary stamping machine

ABSTRACT

A ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE FOR CUTTING TONGUES IN SHEET METAL AND BENDING THE TONGUES TO EXTEND AT AN ANGLE TO THE SHEET METAL BODY. THE SHEET METAL IS CLAMPED BETWEEN ROTATABLE DRIVING MEANS AND IS ADVANCED STEP BY STEP, AFTER THE SHEET METAL IS ADVANCED A STEP IT IS STATIONARY DURING THE TONGUE CUTTING INTERVAL. AFTER THE TONGUE IS CUT AND BENT THE CUTTING MEANS IS SHIFTED TO CLEAR THE SHEET METAL AND THE SHEET METAL IS ADVANCED ANOTHER STEP. THEREAFTER THE CUTTING AND BENDING OPERATIONS ARE REPEATED.

Feb. 6, 1973 w s ETAL 3,714,809

ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE Filed Jan. 14, 1971 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fl 2 I 1 INVENTOR.

TONY E. LEWIS GEORGE RODRIGUEZ ATTOR S Feb. 6, 1973 w 5 ET AL ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 14, 1971 N ON m G S m m a OID N W R mm m W ,4 n I R M OE m oE W T. E. LEWIS ET L Feb. 6, 1973 ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 14, 1971 INVENTOR.

TONY E. LEWIS GEORGE RODRIGUEZ ATTORN YS Feb. 6, 1973 1'. E. LEWIS ET AL ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 14, 1971 hm mm mm United States Patent O 3,714,809 ROTARY STAMPING MACHINE Tony E. Lewis, Campbell, Calif., and George Rodriguez, 1292 McBain Ave., Campbell, Calif. 95008; said Lewis assignor to said Rodriguez Filed Jan. 14, 1971, Ser. No. 106,447 Int. Cl. B21d 31/02; B21j 13/10 US. Cl. 72326 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending the tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved rotary stamping machine for cutting and bending tongues in sheet metal.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet, said machine being provided with a continuous drive that alternately step by step feeds the sheet metal and actuates the cutting mechanism.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal, said machine being provided with a pair of ratchet wheels which are adapted to be driven in opposite directions by a single eccentric drive, whereby the sheet metal feed mechanism which is driven by one of the ratchet wheels is actuated to feed the sheet metal to the cutting means which is actuated by the other of said ratchet wheels to perform the tongue cutting operation while the sheet metal feed mechanism is stationary.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claims and drawing.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending the tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body. This machine may be used to cut said tongues into straight sheet metal or into the ends of sheet metal pipes such as are used in air conditioning and heating installations. The tongues are furnished in the ends of the sheet metal pipes to facilitate joining of the ends of such pipes to other ducts.

The machine disclosed in this application is provided with a continuous drive which may be in the form of an electric motor provided with a suitable reduction gearing which drives the shaft to which an eccentric is attached. The eccentric drives a pair of pawl actuating arms and the pawls engage ratchet wheels which are of opposite hands and which are alternately turned or advanced step by step. One of these ratchet wheels rotates the work feeding mechanism and the other rotates an undulating cam member which actuates the tongue cutting mechanism. The feed and the cutting mechanism are actuated alternately so that the sheet metal is stationary when the cutting mechanism is actuated and the cutting mechanism is inactive when the feed is actuated.

Further details of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claims and drawings, in which, briefly:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the working parts of the feed and cutting mechanisms of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an operational view showing the ratchet wheels with the work feed ratchet wheel being actuated and the ratchet wheel actuating the cutter mechanism being in slipping engagement with the pawls thereof;

FIG. 8a is fragmentary detail view to be considered with FIG. 8, showing a side of the tongue cutting device resting under the sheet metal Work;

FIG. 8b is a view taken along the line 8b8b of FIG. 8a;

FIG. 9 is another operational view with the work feed ratchet wheel in slipping engagement with pawls thereof while the undulating cam member is starting to actuate the cutting device;

FIG. 9a is a fragmentary detail view similar to FIG. 8a to be considered with FIG. 9, and shows the cutting edges of the cutter arm advancing into the work;

FIG. 9b is a view taken along the line 9b9b of FIG. 9a;

FIG. 10 is a detail View showing the tongue cutting device advanced all the way through the work and the tongue bent so that it extends away from the work surface;

FIG. 10a is a view taken along the line 10a10a of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 11 is an operational view similar to FIGS. 8 and 9 showing the positions of the drive ratchets when the cutting device has completed the cutting and bending of the tongue as shown in FIG. 10.

Referring to the drawing in detail reference numeral 10 designates a frame which supports the electric motor 11. Motor 11 which is a conventional A.C. type adapted to run on either or 220 volts, is provided with a reduction gearing for driving the shaft 12 at relatively slow speed. The flexible coupling 13 is provided between the shafts 12 and 14. Bearings 15 are attached to the frame 10 and the shaft 14 is journalled in these bearings. The disk 16 is attached to the shaft 14 and is rotatable there with. An eccentric pin 17 is attached to the disk 16 and this pin is positioned in slots formed in the arms 18 and 19 so that as the disk 16 is rotated by the shaft 14 the pin 17 moves in the slots in arms 18 and 19 and causes these arms to oscillate back and forth.

Arms 18 and 19 are attached to members 20 and 21, respectively, by suitable bolts as shown in FIG. 3. Members 20 and 21 are provided with cavities and pawls 22 and 23 are pivotally attached to these respective members as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Ratchet wheels 24 and 25 are adapted to be received in the cavities of members 20 and 21, respectively. The ratchet wheels 24 and 25 are of opposite hands and they are therefore rotated in opposite directions in alternate steps by the pawls 22 and 23, respectively. Suitable coil springs 26 and 27 are provided in the members 20 and 21, respectively, for engaging the pawls 22 and 23, respectively. These springs urge the pawls into engagement with the respective ratchet wheels 24 and 25. The teeth of ratchet wheels 24 and 25 are oriented in opposite directions so that they are of opposite hands as previously mentioned and the purpose of this is to cause the ratchet wheels 24 and 25 to be advanced alternately in step by step.

Thus, the ratchet wheel 24 is advanced when the arm 18 is swung to the right by the pin 17 as shown in FIG. 8 and at the same time ratchet 25 is stationary because the pawls 23 are slipping thereon. Ratchet 25 is advanced when the arm 19 is swung to the left as shown in FIGS. 9 and 11 and at the same time ratchet 24 is stationary since the pawls 22 associated therewith are slipping. Ratchet 24 is attached to the shaft 28 by the key 29 as shown in FIG. 8 so that as this ratchet is advanced step by step the shaft 28 is likewise rotated. The left hand end of shaft 28 is threaded and nuts 30 and 31 shown in FIG. 3 are provided to this threaded portion. Two plastic clutch members 32 are positioned on this threaded portion between the nuts 30 and 31 and the clutch arm 33 is positioned between these plastic clutch members. The arm 33 is fixedly attached to the frame and the clutch members frictionally engage this arm to prevent the shaft 28 from turning when it is not positively driven by the ratchet wheel 24.

Ratchet 25 is fixedly attached to the outside of the cam member 34 which is provided with a cavity having a plurality of undulating cam surfaces 35. Roller 36 which is rotatably supported by the arm 37 engages the undulating cam surfaces 35 of the cam member 34 and the arm 37 is swung up and down on its pivot 38 as the cam member 34 is advanced step by step. The outer end of the arm 37 is provided with a cutter member 39.

The shaft 28 extends through the auxiliary frame member 10a which is attached to the main frame 10 and the outer end of the shaft 28, which projects from the auxiliary frame member 10a, is provided with a work drive wheel 40 which extends up through a slot formed in the circular platen 41 as shown in FIG. 2. Another work engaging wheel 42 is supported in the auxiliary frame 10b by the shaft 43 as shown in FIG. 3. The auxiliary frame 1% is pivotally attached to the auxiliary frame 10a by the pivot pin 44 and a spring 100 is provided between frames 10a and 10b to tilt frame 10b as shown in FIG. 2 and normally support wheel 42 in raised position.

Straps such as 45 are pivotally attached to the auxiliary frame 10a by the pin 46 and the upper ends of these straps are pivotally attached to the eccentric clamp 47 which is provided with an actuating arm 48. Eccentric clamp 47 is rotatable between the members 49 and when it is rotated it applies pressure to the leaf spring 50 which presses the auxiliary frame 1011 against the auxiliary frame 10a and at the same time the workpiece 51, which is in the form of a strip of sheet metal, is clamped between the wheels 40 and 42 as shown in FIGS. 8a and 9a, so that this sheet metal workpiece is advanced step by step as the wheel 40 is rotated step by step by the ratchet wheel 24.

The auxiliary frame 10b is provided with a cavity 52 between the cutting edges 52a that cooperate with the cutting sides 39 of the arm 37 to cut the tongues 51a in the work sheet 51. The sequence of this tongue cutting operation is shown in FIGS. 8a to 10b, inclusive. In FIG. 8a the arm 37 is in its lower position and the cutting sides 39 thereof are located below the sheet metal 51. At this time the roller 36 of the arm 37 is in one of the valleys of the undulating cam 35, as shown in FIG. 9, as this roller is advanced to the crest of the undulating cam, as shown in FIG. 11, the cutting sides 39 of the arm 37 are brought upward against the sheet metal and the cutting sides sever slits into the sheet metal. As the cutting sides 39 and the cutting sides 52a of the cavity 52 shear the sheet metal 51 the tongue 51a formed by this shearing action is bent up into the cavity 52. The tongue 51a is not sheared completely from the sheet 51 since the end of the arm 37 clears the forward part of the cavity 52. Thus, the tongue 51a is brought up into alignment with the slot 53 provided at the forward end of the cavity 52. The cam member 34 is rotated further by the ratchet wheel 25 until the roller 36 is located in a valley of the undulating cam surface 35 so that the arm 37 is tilted by the spring 37a to the position shown in FIG. 3 and the cutting end of the arm 37 is lowered out of the cavity 52 so that it is below the sheet metal workpiece 51. At this time the arm 18 is swinging in the direction such that the pawls 22 grip the ratchet wheel 24 and starts to rotate the shaft 28 and wheel 40 so that the workpiece 51 is advanced one step while the cam member 34 is stationary. The workpiece 51 is then in position for the next tongue to be cut and the process is repeated until the desired work is completed and the motor 11 is stopped. A clutch band 21A is provided around the cam member 34 to apply friction to this member and restrain it from rotation except when it is positively driven by the ratchet wheel 25.

While we have shown and described certain preferred embodiments of the invention, it is apparent that the invention is capable of variation from the forms shown so that the scope thereof should be limited only by the proper scope of the claims appended hereto.

What we claim is:

1. A rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending said tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body, the combination comprising means cutting slits into a metal sheet to form a tongue, said cutting means comprising a movable cutter and stationary cutters cooperating with said movable cutter, said movable cutter being carried by one end of a rocker arm, a rotatable cam member having a plurality of cam surfaces sequentially engaging the other end of said rocker arm as said cam is rotated for rocking said arm and intermittently moving said movable cutter toward said stationary cutters, means intermittently feeding said sheet metal between said cutters during intervals between the intermittent motion of said movable cutter, said rocker arm moving said movable cutter to bend the tongue to extend away from the sheet metal body directly after the slits forming the tongue are cut into said sheet metal.

2. A rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending said tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body, the combination as set forth in claim 1, further characterized in that said intermittent feeding means includes a wheel engaging the top surface of said sheet metal and another wheel engaging the bottom surface of said sheet metal, a shaft driving said other wheel and a ratchet wheel driving said shaft.

3. A rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending said tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body, the combination as set forth in claim 2, further characterized in that said rotatable cam member is driven by another ratchet wheel, said first mentioned ratchet wheel and said other ratchet wheel being of opposite hands, oscillating arms driving pawls associated with said ratchet wheels so that said ratchet wheels are driven alternately and intermittently and said slit cutting means is actuated while said feeding means is stationary and vice-versa.

4. A rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending said tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body, the combination as set forth in claim 2, further comprising means normally supporting said wheel engaging the top surface of said sheet metal in raised position so that said sheet metal may be inserted between it and said other wheel, said wheel sup porting means being positioned over said rocker arm and means pivotally attaching said last mentioned means to the support of said rocker arm.

5. A rotary stamping machine for cutting tongues in sheet metal and bending said tongues to extend at an angle to the sheet metal body, the combination as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a rotatable clamp for moving said Wheel support on its pivotal support to bring said wheels into firm engagement with said sheet metal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner R. M. ROGERS, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 72420 

